One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish

The was a program from TWO years ago. I just wanted to make sure to post it during a good time for upcoming Seuss celebrations!

One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish!: a celebration of Seuss for ages 3-7 and their families.

Storytime

I read an abbreviated version of “One Fish, Two Fish” to start off the program. But personally, I find most Seuss books to be too long for a storytime situation. Then, I pulled out our brand-new (at the time) iPad.

Since I knew all the kids would want to play with the iPad the second it appeared, our first app was “Dr. Seuss Band.” It’s kind of like DDR for your finger. The kids had fun making noise, but this app would have been frustrating if I hadn’t spent time ahead unlocking some of the instruments and songs.

Next up, I let the app of “Green Eggs and Ham” play, but I turned the reader off so that I could read the story. The kids were giving me rapt attention, and many of the older ones joined in on the “I will not green eggs and ham, I will not eat them, Sam-I-Am!” chorus.

We took a break from the iPad to play The Lorax flannelboard game. I used a giant blow-up dice for this and the kids had a great time as we built the lorax.

Afterwards, it was time to take pictures with “The Cat In the Hat Camera” app. Lots of goofy face, lots of giggles.

Now, was it necessary to use the apps? No, not really. In previous years, we’ve done pictures with a stand-up Cat In the Hat and kids liked that just as much. But technology in my old library’s community was scarce and a lot of kids weren’t exposed to it at all. This was a chance to let them touch and play with an iPad and get them ready for school.

Craft & Games

The second half of the program involved a lot of options. Kids could decide to go to the table and make a Seuss craft:

Or they could go Dr. Seuss bowling:

Or they could sit down and read some of the few Dr. Seuss books that were in that day. Or they could play The Lorax dice game again. Or take their time and play with the apps.

Almost every kids chose to go bowling first, followed by the craft. A few kids trickled over to me for help with the apps and a few kids went ended up on the storytime rug with their own Dr. Seuss book.

Overall, everyone had a really great time at this program and I had started to plan our Seuss celebration for the next year — including buying “Thing One” and “Thing Two” decals for a co-worker and I to wear. Leaving my old library the week before the 2014 Seuss Celebration was one of the saddest things for me.

Like this:

Related

3 comments on “One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish”

Hi Katie,
we’re gearing up for READ ACROSS AMERICA. I’ll be doing a presentation of One Fish Two Fish. I see in your post that you felt it was too long?
Also, I’m fascinated with your use of an IPad w/the kids. I’d like to know more about it’s use. How many kids are you working with and how many IPads are available? Fill me in , please.
I work as an early lit specialist in a rural community in southside VA. I play guitar, sing and dance with everyone and have a sidekick mouse puppet named Pipsqueak. I’m very comfortable with creating programs for the 18mo-7 age group and am learning to create programs for infants on the fly! You are a HUGE help, influence and cheer leader. Many Thanks!
With care,
Miss Sue

For my program and my personal preference, yes. I think the majority of Seuss books are too long for storytime.

At my old library, the iPad was handheld, as I would use a picture book. At this program, I think we had around 20 kids and their parents and I was the one holding the iPad. The kids were remarkably good at waiting their turn to work with the iPad. At my new library, I ran an entirely iPad storytime where the screen was mirrored using AppleTV to our large screen.